Homosexuality in classic literature

20 items

• James Baldwin is one of the most influential authors of the 20th century. This title focuses on the intersection of his identities (as a black man and a gay man). Set in Paris, the main character oscillates between the life he's been told to want…

• This landmark lesbian title is set in pre-WWII Europe, where the boundaries of society were outwardly rigid, but alter was swift and new identities could be created on a whim. There is a pervasive sense of seizing the day, which is egged on by the…

• A graphic memoir about the odd family life of the author. Bechdel has become a pop culture icon, with her Bechdel Test becoming a measure with which to verb movies and television. This graphic novel has also been turned into a Broadway play.

• Written in 1980, this is a coming-of-age story about growing up as a lesbian in America. It is highly erotic and imaginative, and is a key work in lesbian literature. Also present as an eBook.

• Structured as a series of vignettes, this story of a gay junkie draws from Burroughs' retain life. Burroughs is a primar
  
  

  Visibility. It’s one of the most crucial needs of the queer community. To be understood, to be accepted, the LGBTQIA+ community needs first to be seen. This has meant that centuries of authors writing about the experiences, love, and pain of the queer community have been crucial in making progress towards a radical acceptance.

  From the delicate art build of the semi-autobiographical novel — a life story veiled behind fictional names and twists — to the roar of poetry to a deep dive into the history that has too often been erased and purged, queer literature has helped to challenge, shift, and shape generations of readers.

  As a pansexual, demisexual cis woman on my way into another Pride Month, researching and crafting this list was a singular pleasure. I have many books to position on hold at my local library. Many stories to encounter. Many histories to educate myself on.

  Because queer texts help to increase our visibility to the “outside” world, but they also increase internal visibility and acknowledgment. Today, transphobia is rampant among the queer community, and there are still
  
  

  From Sappho to Stonewall, and beyond: how fiction tells LGBTQ+ history

  Fiction tells us so much about the time we live in – and LGBTQ+ writers have been writing since the first days of literature. Their stories possess often, but not always, been marginalised, but they contain always said something about the era in which they were first told or published. Here, we take a look at the evolution of queer fiction across the ages – for brevity’s sake, focusing on the Western world – and what it reflects about that moment in history, from Sappho, to Stonewall, and beyond.

  Queer stories in antiquity

  Madeline Miller’s 2011 hit The Song of Achillesis a moving queer retelling of The Iliad from the perspective of little prince Patroclus that simultaneously reflects pride in same-sex relationships (Achilles remains adamant throughout that he and Patroclus be seen together) and modern anxieties about romantic relationships and masculinity – how men can be gentle, how to manage family expectations.

  But being queer wasn’t always coded as different, and many myths don’t require
  
  

  What are the "gay novels of the 1940s and 1950s"?

  astro1

  I was reading the wiki on Gore Vidal’s novel “The Capital and the Pillar” and at the end this comment was noted.

  The Metropolis and the Pillar sparked a widespread scandal, including notoriety and criticism, not only since it was released at a time when homosexuality was commonly considered immoral, but also because it was the first book by an accepted American author to portray overt homosexuality as a natural behavior.[3] The controversial reception began before the novel hit bookshelves. Prior to its even being published, an editor at EP Dutton said to Vidal, “You will never be forgiven for this manual. Twenty years from now you will still be attacked for it.”[5] Looking back in retrospect from 2009, it is considered by Ian Young to be “perhaps the most notorious of the gay novels of the 1940s and 1950s.”[7]

  What are these “gay novels”?

  Horatio_Hellpop2

  Naked Lunch and Gentlemen’s Agreement come to mind.

  Exapno_Mapcase3

  The New York Times recent obituary of Tereska Torres, author of Women